The Ultimate Fighter 8 Episode 6 Recap
Last week on “The Ultimate Fighter 8: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir” Team MIr captured control in the second light heavyweight preliminary fight as 205-pounder Elliot Marshall submitted Team Nogueira’s Shane Primm via rear naked choke.
This week Junie Browning will look to back up his talk, squaring off with a fellow lightweight Roli Delgado for a spot in the 155-pound tournament semis. Both fighters are confident they’ll come out victorious, while Team Mir is energized by their first win of the season and is looking to keep the momentum going.
Back at the house to celebrate their win, Jiu jitsu black belt Frank Mir asks fellow black belt (or perhaps not?) Roli Delgado who he earned his belt under. After an extended and confusing story that leaves everyone in the house doubting the legitimacy of his belt, Junie and Rolando talk smack about a potential fight between the two. Junie is confident, as expected, but Roli feels hes not as good as he says he is.
Despite already announcing the bout in the intro, the official selection is next and, as expected, it’s Junie Browning vs. Rolando Delgado. Junie pulls out a black belt and tosses it at Delgado during the mandatory staredown, then the two engage in a playful shoving match punctuated by Junie spitting at Delgado’s feet. Anderson Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira he has the skills to beat Junie in their upcoming bout. Al Stankie “guarantees” a win for Roli if he follows his instructions, but after he struggles with a speed bag (you’re a pro fighter and don’t know how to hit a speed bag?) we’re having our doubts.
At the Team Mir training session Junie tips the scales at 163-pounds for the 156-pound limit fight, but Junie and Frank have little doubts he’ll be able to make weight. However, the official weigh-ins follow and Roli Delgado weighs-in at 155 but Junie weighs-in at 158, two pounds over the limit. Though there’s initial concerns over Junie’s ability to drop the two pounds, he quickly sheds the weight and successfully weighs-in for the fight at 156, but is wiped out from the quick drop.
After the weigh-ins we quickly move onto the bout between Junie and Roli.
As expected, there’s no touch of the gloves for this one and Junie comes out aggressively, chopping Roli to the ground with a powerful leg kick but allows him back up to go at him on the feet. Delgado rebounds with a string of strikes, but Junie remains the aggressor. Roli fires punches and kicks, but Junie does a good job avoiding and looks for an opening. At the midway point Junie picks up the pace and connects with more frequency, continue to stalk Roli around the octagon going so far as to drop his hands to allow Delgado to connect. Delgado shoots in for a takedown but Junie falls into side control. Delgado escapes and Junie allows him to return to his feet, then drops his hands again and invites more punches. Junie connects with a series of punches before the conclusion of the opening round.
Round two begins and Delgado looks for an early takedown but Junie sprawls out. After connecting with a combo Junie shrugs off another takedown attempt. Still on their feet Junie connects with more frequency, landing a series of punches and body shots that hurt Delgado. Junie continues to connect and Roli is unable to respond with anything on consequence. After closing wearing him down with a series of combinations Junie closes the distance against the fence then sends Delgado to the canvas with a right. After momentarily pounding on him while on the ground, Junie lets him return to his feet once again. Both fighters are gassed, but close the round out with an even flurry of punches.
The fight is all-square through two rounds on the judge’s cards, so they to a third and decisive round.
They touch gloves to start the third and resume their matchup. Junie picks Delgado apart early in the third with strikes, but Roli rebounds midway through the round and fights back. Junie, though, grabs the momentum again, catching a kick which allows Delgado to go to the canvas. Junie is hesitant to follow into his guard and remains standing, kicking Delgado while looking for an opening. With just over a minute remaining Delgado pops back to his feet and the exhausted fighters trade standup strikes for the remainder of the fight.
Junie Browning is declared the winner by split decision, evening the season series between Team Mir and Team Nogueira at two fights apiece while maintaining control for Team Mir.
After the fight, Junie apologizes to Nogueira for the pre-fight, black belt antics. Despite his surprising and gutsy performance, Rolando Delgado has been eliminated from the lightweight tournament while early tournament favorite Junie Browning advances to the semis.
Next week on The Ultimate Fighter 8, Team Mir engages in some “Wanderlei Silva training”, donning snorkels and hoping in trash cans filled with ice to prepare for their bouts, while Team Nogueira takes a starkly different approach, having a fun-filled practice in hopes of gaining the upper hands. The pranks also return, and this time their personal.
TEAM MIR
- 205: Elliot Marshall (1-0)
- 155: Junie Browning (1-0)
- 205: Krzysztof Soszynski
- 205: Vinicius Magalhaes
- 155: David Kaplan
- 155: George Roop
- 155: Shane Nelson
Eliminated in episode four by Efrain Escudero - 205: Tom Lawlor
Eliminated in episode three by Ryan Bader
TEAM NOGUEIRA
- 205: Ryan Bader (1-0)
- 155: Efrain Escudero (1-0)
- 205: Kyle Kingsbury
- 205: Jules Bruchez
- 155:Phillipe Nover
- 155: John Polakowski
- 155: Rolando Delgado
Eliminated in episode six by Junie Browning - 205: Shane Primm
Eliminated in episode five by Elliot Marshall
I was impressed with the fact that Roli was able to take some shots, avoid some shots, and do ok in the stand up. His takedowns were terrible. Junie was unimpressive, and (based on this performance) will probably get beat next time around.
agreed. efrain could easily out power junie..
Dare I say that Junie might have realized that he isn’t as bad as he thinks he is?? Mind he will continue to be a ass and talk shhh and by no means has become humble but something in the back of his pea brain might have clicked he didn’t win that fight as easily as he thought hell he had a hard time making weight
Junie- could be a great fighter, he is what makes people doubt this as a legitimate sport. He lacks any type of class. The kid has so much power, and I dont think he will make it through the next fight especially if they have any power themselves, delgado took some good pounding but looked sloppy and didnt seem too comfortable at all, he wasnt scared to get in there though, but to be a black belt he had no takedown or defense, first round they go to the ground and it looked like he was going for the fetal. I just hope Junie can either straighten it up and become a respected fighter or just get the hell out with his childish caveman behavior. Just my two cents.
junie is all bark and no bite.not saying i would win everytime but i know i could mess both of them up.and i think efran is way to good for junie maybe be why he is trying to make a name and possibly get kicked off without fighting him.neither looked like they had any power.
Really guys? i know no one likes Junie, but he lets Delgado punch him in the face the whole round gives the round to him, only to turn it on in the 2nd and almost finish but gassed. I dont particularly like Junie but lets not cut him short, those were sick body shots. Efrian really wasnt that impressive, Efrain looked awkward on the feet and didnt push the pace, luckily Shane’s dumb ass walked into that triangle. I wanna see when Efrain is stalked and is getting hit. by the way still pissed at Shane for being such a **** in that fight and not throwing at all, worst showing by a Hawaii boy out of any season.
Junie is not as good as he thinks he is. If he did that hit me sh!t to anyone else that had any power what so ever, he would have been Ko’ed. There is now way he wins the tournament. Mir asking Delgado who he got his blackbelt was classic. ” UPS delivered it to him.”
I was pretty disapointed with both. I was expecting much more with all the **** they were talking. And, talk about no class??? Juni should have his ass kicked just for being disrespectful to the belt. He’s a douche.
I’m glad to see that Mir is getting frustrated with Junie. He has regained a little of my respect.
He’ll end up like what’s his name that kicked out the limo window. He just can’t control himself.
I wasn’t impressed with either. On one hand you have a guy that can’t really explain where his training took place and can’t use a speed bag. Claims to be a jui jitsu black belt and can’t execute a successful take down, and gets free shots at his opponent but can’t even phase him.
On the other hand you have a guy standing flat footed and looking for one shot the entire fight with no idea how to set it up or finish. I’ll grant him the body shots, those were wicked.
But as soon as he faces anyone with knockout power, any wrestling skill, or enough gas to make it more than one round he will be finished.
**** both of those little punks i woulda took to school,, i could make that weight and trust me woulda beat both of them. for having a black belt his takedowns were terrible and junie man i wish i was there and he told me to hit him in the face all those times.. so far the lightweight division has yet to impress me……
cant wait to see Krzysztof Soszynski my boy from winnipeg canada he is suck a beast and going to be the champ of tuf 8 mark my word!
The look Nogueira gave Junie after the spitting was priceless….Delgado’s boxing was a disappointment. Maybe a year developing the jab would have been the difference. He also seemed a little flat footed for a fighter with 10 fights on his record. I didn’t expect him to get the takedown. It was kind of like BEBE vs YAHYAH(Sp?).
DELGADOS STAND UP WAS OK CONSIDERING HE LEARNED IT ALL IN A DAY. YOU SAW THAT HE COULDN’T HIT THE BAG. WHAT DID YOU EXPECT.. I EXPECTED IT TO GO TO THE GROUND AND FOR DELGADO TO GO TO THE CLINCH AND FORCE HIM DOWN FROM THERE… THAT FIGHT LOOKED LIKE A ****ING HIGH SCHOOL FIGHT… “LIKE CRAP”
YZF,
I agree that Delgado’s stand up wasn’t bad for learning it in a day (maybe a little longer we don’t know how they edited it) I would have expected it to go to the ground, but the previews they showed last week did not indicate that, so I wasn’t expecting that. And yeah, not a “good” fight in terms of the skills shown, and the way the fighters fought in general.
A day is about right. Just checked Sherdog…Delgado fights at 145.So we are talking about a walking around difference of 15-25lbs. I don’t think Delgado was scared he’s been KO’ed by Masvadal.
LOL gotta love the people that post how they would’ve fought either fighter and kicked their ass. LOL.
it said on the show that delgado was 7-3(sherdog lists him as 5-3). i honestly dont know how he has ever won a fight? he is terrible. how can he expect to win a fight with junie if he cant make a real effort to take him down? standing in front of junie with his hands open just dont cut it! d*mn, i wanted badly for junie to lose…
Junie is an idiot for fighting the way he did. He got away with fighting that way because Roli is very weak. Even if by chance Junie wins the show, there is no way he can go into the UFC fighting the current lightweights the way he fought Roli or Little Hitler. I was not impressed with either fighter. I will give it to Junie though…..he continued to push foward the whole match and was surely tired from cutting weight. Then again he should have been at the proper weight in the first place. Just not impressed.
@trey_trey,
Yeah I didn’t mention the Sherdog difference because I have come to expect “errors”. Honestly If we ever get honest numbers in sports I will be amazed. Growing up ACC basketball was the worst. Somehow Duke and UNC signees magically gain up to 3″ in height.(And no this is not a David Robinson type of thing).
the biggest thing roli needs to work on isnt his hands, but his foot work, far too often did we see him cross his feet over… he had no power in in punches because he wasnt able to get his body behind it…
as for his Black belt… maybe he did get it, but i wonder if they tested his throwing ability as well, cause i didnt see any real attempts…
now for junie, that boy is such a kitten, his chin wasnt tested, where as roli’s was and he can take a gooood number of goood hits to the chin and still keep going, at least we know he can throw a leg kick and a sprawl…
i think the best thing is how junie is all “wrestlers arent entertaining” well numbnuts, your fight was boring, and you should be in the WWE with that kind of drama
Don’t forget to read Ken Hahn’s blog.
Yea I agree Junie calls out efrain saying his fight was boring yet he finished his fight …. What a douche, if Roli woulda stuck to more knees and actually execute decent takedowns we wouldn’t have to go through more episodes of how Junie thinks he’s the next best thing in the lightweight division, gosh he is so lame, what a phony
LOL at Ryan from NY. Yea you gotta love the message board guy that thinks he could beat these guys up. They haven’t been in a fight since the 7th grade but cause they watch every PPV they think they can scrap. That makes me think of that Matt Serra Leiman argument. If you could kick Junie’s ass then you shoulsd be on TUF cause you would be in the semi’s, If not shut up.
Fan is short for fanatic, as a fanatic very rarely are you in the middle. And that theory goes for Junie. Everyones rips him based off of his attitude and because he’s a douche. Strip the emotion away from it and try to be objective. Junie cut 2 lbs in a hour (anyone who wrestled in HS, knows how bad that can be.) He was drained to start. He litterly gave the 1st round to him by letting Delgado punch him in the face. Dominated the 2nd (it should’ve been a 10-8 round with the knockdown). And won a split desicion. If GSP had done this against an opponent, everyone on this board would be talking about his greatness. So once again lets have some perspective before you write how much you hate Junie. I will reserve judgement till his next fight. Hopefully he comes in under weight and 100% so we can see what he can really do.
I think i’m with aznstar on this one. First off i gave that first round to junie for being the aggressor the whole round, i don’t think roli took a step forward thwe whole round unless he was throwing one of his week as front kicks junie easily grabbed. Second of all, yah he cut 2 pounds in an hour the day before/of the fight(don’t know because of editing). That is really tuff on a guy, most with his attitude wouldn’t have done it. I’m not even a junie fan i just give him props for being completely honest and going out there and competeing even though he was most likely gassed before he got in the cage cutting like that. And if roli has a legit blackbelt in anything i will eat my old hat. The guys punches and kicks had nothing on them, his footwork was god forsaken, and I wouldn’t even call that a take down attempt or an attempt to pull guard. Which if he was a black belt in jj he would have done and exploited junie’s ground game. all in all i was disappointed in the fight, but i hope it was an eye opener so junie can get his ass on track so he doesn’t have to cut like that again and can put on the show i expect a guy who talks **** like that to throw down.
Oldman I agree I gave Junie the 1st. He stalked him down and walked right through his shots. If he doesn’t allow Delgado to punch him in the face then he clearly wins and like I stated I had Junie in a 10-8 round in the 2nd. But what people forget is how scary Junie really is to these fighters. When you are all equal the mental game is huge. And when you keep hitting a guy and he just keeps walking you down that messes with your head. Junie is clearly a guy that doesn’t give a f*ck, he’s coming to hurt someone. IMO Efrain looked scared of Nelson on his feet and Nelson did nothing to earn that kinda respect. Does that mean Junie will win? No, but no one should assume that Efrain is gonna take himout with ease cause Efrain looks to be very 1 demensional.
i dunno if it was on this site or somewhere else, but i read an article with some good points surrounding the talent, or lack thereof, that gets on these shows vs the first couple seasons. The point made was that the contract is kind of a joke, which i think most of us assume, and there’s just not enough to attract the higher level guys anymore since there’s other orginizations where they can walk in to. With that, they’ve been forced to take on the delgado’s, the andy wangs, and so on and so on. not that they haven’t had any talented fighters on the last couple seasons, but it’s not quite the same as season 1 which had forrest, bonnar, kos, florian, leben, diego…. and obviously they weren’t as good as they are now, but still noticeably better than these guys.
hopefully, these 2 lw fights aren’t a reflection of the rest of the season because watching last nights episode, i honestly felt like i could’ve walked in and won that fight and i’m a huge ****, so it doesn’t say much for either of those guys. not to be disrespectful of the fighters, but i really wasn’t impressed.
You read that on another site, 2girls2cups. Maybe they’ve fixed that for the upcoming season…we’ll see.
Yah, having 3 pro bouts will definatly weed out the pussies. Good point about the lack of talent in the couple last seasons. When you think about it though it was bound to happen. Really i would say when they did the comback they were grasping at straws. For instance they were using champions from smaller organizations (cote,tko) in this season just to have a talent pool. Season 1-3 were vets too, guys with 10 fights against respectable oppenents. Those guys are few and far between now. The fights might not be as axciting in those seasons, but it’s developing young talent and fan base for these young fighters. I give dana props for this idea, but like everyone is saying. Lets have a womens season of TUF, and the first 32 pillowfight to get in.